Test scores and house numbers

As I write this, it’s the morning of Election Day. The polls have been open for an hour-and-a-half.

By the time you read this, we should know the results of all the races, unless, of course, we have a repeat of the 2000 election and the country waits impatiently while hanging chads are interperted.
 Here are some tidbits from various subjects that have come up over the last week.
- Test scores were released last week and, as expected, schools across the state were met with lower scores than they are used to.
Full disclosure, my wife is a teacher, so I have an idea of what the mood was like in some households after the results were released.
If you are a parent with a child in the school system, take a hard look at your child’s scores and at the school and district scores.
When you do, however, keep in mind that this is a new model to gauge student learning.
I’ve heard instances of students being prepared for one thing but actually seeing another thing on the test.
For instance, students were given reading passages on the test that were much longer than the ones they prepared for. Now that students and teachers have seen the test, they have a better idea of what to prepare for.
Also, if your student is in the Washington County school district, be prepared to see those test scores rise in the coming years.
The district is under transition, not only with the new accountability model, but with a system overhaul.
I’ve seen the work the district is doing to try and get every school on the same page that prepares students for high school and later college. Not every school district takes that approach.
In my short time as editor, the district has been featured on KET and in other places for the work they are doing.
I don’t expect that to end anytime soon.
So, look at those test scores and take a deep breath. If I were a betting man, I would bet those scores will be on the rise.
- If you live in the city or the county, EMS Director Mark Hale wants to remind you that it’s easier to find you in an emergency situation if your address is visible on your house.
He said that EMS personnel have encountered several situations where a patient lives somewhere that doesn’t have any numbers on the house, thus making it difficult to locate the correct house.
I don’t know about you, but if I’m bleeding or injured, I want EMS personnel to find me quickly.
Just putting your number on your mailbox isn’t enough, either, he said.
In many places, such as a lane or a mobile home park, mailboxes are clustered in one place, thus making it impossible to determine which house is which address.
After a little digging, we found an ordinance established by the city and the county in the 1990s that said property owners must affix the correct house number in a visible place on the residence.
So, if you don’t have house numbers up, you’re not only risking your health, you are breaking the law.
After my conversation with Hale, I decided I need to better equip my house, too.
We have house numbers up, but he said that wasn’t always enough. The preferred method for EMS personnel is something reflective that is closer to the road.
Hey, sign me up. I’m in the market for some reflective house numbers I can place by the sidewalk in front of my house.
So when this nice weather hopefully comes around this weekend, take a few minutes and put some house numbers up. You really never know when you might need the services of the local EMS.